


Caged

by katling



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Fluff, Light Angst, M/M, art fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-13
Updated: 2017-01-13
Packaged: 2018-09-17 05:41:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9307859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katling/pseuds/katling
Summary: The Inquisition requires Cullen to don the armour he discarded in Kirkwall. He's not happy about it but he will do what the Inquisition asks of him. Dorian makes sure that his demons do not survive past his return to Skyhold.So there was thislovely piece of artworkdone by @lilyrutherfordblog on tumblr and wrote a rambling set of tags on my reblog of it. Then I felt I needed to write the fic that had come to mind when I saw it.





	

There was silence in the war room as the Inquisitor and the advisors all looked down at the map, refusing to meet each other’s eyes… or rather refusing to meet Cullen’s eyes. The man in question was staring at the newest marker on the map, his eyes dark and lost. He knew what the Inquisitor was about to ask. They’d been circling the idea for the last hour, drawing ever closer before they backed away again with tentative looks and hesitant words. These three women knew. They all knew about his past to greater or lesser extents. They knew and they were torn between their professionalism and their friendship.

In the end, it was Cullen who broke the impasse. He straightened and clasped his hands around the pommel of his sword, all of them ignoring how tight the grip was. He gave a sigh then nodded.

“I’ll do it.”

“Cullen,” Herah Adaar began in a strangled tone.

“It’s important and it needs to be done. I’ll do it.”

“We can find another way,” Josephine said. Her tone was even but her eyes gave away her anguish at just the very thought of what they were asking.

“We’ve been trying to find another way for the last three hours,” Cullen said.

Josephine wilted a little and Leliana patted her on the arm. “I could send one of my people. As long as the message gets through, who cares…”

“Knight-Commander Thaddeus will care,” Cullen said, interrupting her with a small look of apology which she accepted with a resigned nod. “He’s not a bad man. A lot of the Templars who were wrongly kicked out of the Order by Meredith went to him and he gladly accepted them back into the Order. His Circle was one of the few that didn’t rebel because they saw no reason to. They lost a few mages but most stayed because he does not allow abuse from anyone and…” 

He paused. He didn’t really want to delve into something he only knew as rumour but given all that had happened, he was inclined to think it was less than rumour now.

“His lover and beloved is the First Enchanter,” Leliana said for him.

Cullen gave a tight nod. “But he’s not inclined to trust someone outside the Order.”

“But you’re outside the Order,” Herah said.

“He doesn’t know that,” Cullen replied. He very reluctantly pulled a folded letter out of his pocket. “This was in my mail this morning. It’s from the Knight-Commander. It’s… vague and a bit circular but he’s asking about the legitimacy of the Inquisition.”

“He will trust your word,” Josephine said with understanding. “Then you can just write back, yes?”

Cullen shook his head. “He wants to meet.”

“You still don’t…” Herah began.

“We need them,” Cullen said firmly. “All of them. Templars and mages, the whole Circle. And while he didn’t say it outright, he strongly implied that he won’t agree unless we meet and he needs to know I’m not…” He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s just armour. I know I left the Order but…”

Herah nodded. “You don’t have to do this, Cullen.”

“I know,” he said with a small mirthless smile. “But I need to. The Inquisition needs me to. The people need to see that it’s not all mad Templars and crazed mages. That harmony and cooperation is possible. Now, more than ever.”

Herah gave him a narrow-eyed look. “And you need to see that too.”

Cullen looked down at the map for a moment. “Maybe I do,” he whispered.

*****

He’d left his armour in Kirkwall when he’d walked away from the Order and the city but Harritt had the schematics and within a couple of days, Cullen was staring at the familiar armour as it lay in a heap on his bed. He’d been staring at it for nearly half an hour, standing there in nothing but his smalls. Putting it on was more of a hurdle than he’d originally thought.

“Amatus?”

He gave a start and looked around to see Dorian just climbing up into the loft bedroom. The mage’s expression was oddly tentative but he quickly covered it with a smile.

“I must say that you look far better out of the armour than in it.”

Cullen managed to dredge up a faint smile. He didn’t know what it looked like but it was enough to make Dorian close the gap between them, coming up behind him and wrapping his arms around his waist. He pressed a kiss to Cullen’s bare shoulder then rested his chin on his shoulder.

“You don’t have to do this, you know.”

Cullen gave a small huff of a laugh. “Everyone’s been saying that. Even Blackwall said it this morning when we were sparring.”

“Well, it’s nice to know the great lump of hair has eyes,” Dorian said in a joking tone. He sobered. “You have been looking rather dyspeptic about the whole idea.”

“I know,” Cullen said with a sigh. “I just…” He leaned back into Dorian’s warm strength for a moment. “I never thought I’d wear this armour again.”

Dorian arched an eyebrow. “It looks heavy.”

Cullen was silent for a moment. “It is.” And he didn’t mean just the physical weight of it. It was the emotional baggage that came with it that was far heavier in his mind.

He reluctantly pulled out of Dorian’s embrace and walked over to the bed. He slowly pulled on the armour, from the breeches and shirt to the padded gambeson, then the armour itself with its bulky pauldrons to the chain mail skirt and fabric overskirt in Templar red. As he pulled on each piece and strapped it into place, he felt like he was losing more and more of himself and he gave a shuddering sigh as he tied the sash around his waist with a practised ease that he had not lost. He then stepped back and rolled his shoulders to settle the armour into place. It fit perfectly and it felt like a cage.

He finally turned and found Dorian looking at him sombrely. “It doesn’t suit you, Amatus,” he said. “You are… so much more than this.”

Cullen closed his eyes and swallowed hard. It was only when he felt a warm hand on his cheek that he opened his eyes again. Dorian was standing just in front of him, looking at him with a small, loving smile.

“You can do this. You _will_ do this.” Dorian caressed his cheek. “Then you’ll come home and we’ll get Harritt to melt down this armour and you can go back to being yourself.”

Cullen let out a shaking breath as tears pricked at his eyes. He reached out and cradled Dorian’s face in one gauntleted hand. He then leaned in and kissed him, softly at first then harder and more fervent. He finally pulled away and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly then immediately turned and picked up his helmet. He gave Dorian a nod, unwilling to risk the tremor that he knew must be in his voice right now, and headed for the ladder. The sooner he left, the sooner this would be done.

*****

It was done. Knight-Commander Thaddeus was suitably impressed with Cullen and the Inquisition, First Enchanter Lillian was comfortable that her mages would be cared for in the way they were accustomed and Cullen had used the excuse of needing to ensure their welcome would be suitably warm to ride ahead and get back to Skyhold as quickly as he could. The Inquisitor had net him at the gates to receive his verbal report then immediately sent him up to rest. He could have hugged the tall Vashoth woman and from the gleam in her eyes, she knew it.

He escaped up to his office with a sigh of relief, his only aim being to get rid of the armour he was wearing. As such, he completely missed the signs that someone else was in the room until he’d climbed the stairs and saw the bathtub sitting in the middle of the room. Dorian was leaning over it one hand held out as the water began to steam and he looked up and smiled softly.

Cullen stared at him for a moment then began stripping off the unwanted Templar armour almost savagely, dropping it to the floor with uncaring thunks. When he was down to his gambeson and breeches, he stepped forward and pulled Dorian into a fierce hug, burying his face in the mage’s neck. Dorian had squawked with surprise at the sudden tug but when he felt how much Cullen was trembling, he wrapped his arms around his lover and rubbed his back, making soothing noises as he pressed little butterfly kisses to whatever part of Cullen he could reach.

After a little while, Dorian began to shuffle Cullen towards the bath. He pulled at the hem of his gambeson and Cullen stepped away just long enough to strip off his remaining clothes. He immediately climbed into the bath and sunk underneath the water for a long moment before sitting up again and wiping the water from his face. Now Dorian stepped forward and reached for the soap. Silence reigned as he gently washed Cullen but it wasn’t an uncomfortable silence. He could see Cullen relaxing more and more as every second passed until he finally sighed and leaned back against the end of the tub and closed his eyes.

Dorian was careful to keep his movement slow and calm. He wasn’t, for once, looking to arouse, merely to relax and rejuvenate his lover. He could the stress Cullen had been under in the way the lines in his face had become harsh and graven but even now they were smoothing out and a small smile was playing over Cullen’s lips.

“Lean forward, Amatus,” he murmured. “Let me wash your hair.”

Cullen obeyed without a word and Dorian spent far longer than was really necessary in washing his hair. Partly it was because he secretly enjoyed running his hands through Cullen’s hair but mostly it was because of the little contented noises he was drawing out of his lover. Finally he pulled his hands away and rinsed the last of the soap away.

“Out you come,” he said as he stood up and reached for one of the towels he’d been keeping carefully heated.

He gently dried Cullen and smiled when he saw how sleepy and contented the man looked, a far cry from the stressed, unhappy man who had climbed that ladder.

“Bed,” he said once he had finished drying Cullen.

The man went easily, skirting around the pile of discarded armour and ambling over to the bed. He lay down as Dorian puttered around, cleaning up the detritus of the bath. He then stripped off his own clothes and climbed into the bed beside his lover. He pulled Cullen to him and began running his hand through Cullen’s damp curls.

“Sleep, Amatus,” he said. “I’ll be here.”

Cullen sighed and closed his eyes, willing to sleep for the first time since he’d left Skyhold without exhausting himself. That had been the only way to avoid the nightmares the armour had conjured to the fore. But he didn’t have to worry about that now. Dorian was here and he felt safe. He could sleep. “Thank you, love.”


End file.
